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| The All-Star Game, thanks in large part to KD, saved an otherwise terrible All-Star Weekend |
NBA all-star weekend was supposed to be a showcase of the complete NBA talent, chalk full of high flyers deadly shooters and elite ball handlers. But instead the NBA turned its most hyped up weekend into a circus that even Cirque De Soleil would laugh at.
This debacle began with the celebrity game which is actually a hit or miss event. The game's MVP was 5'2" comedian Kevin Hart, which brought quite the laughs, seeing as it was like a midget dropping baskets and catching rebounds. The rising stars game always seems to help erase the celebrity game if it's a bust, but this year it disappointed as well. Usually it's like the all-star game where they start playing defense in the fourth quarter, not this time around. The rosters was plagued with undisciplined players, like DeMarcus Cousins John Wall and Tristan Thompson who don't even bring it in every NBA game let alone a rising stars game.
All-Star Saturday makes the weekend. Out of all of the sports it's the best skills competition night. But this year it was turned into a big show instead of a showcase of different elite talents. The shooting competition, comprised of an NBA player, a former NBA player and a WNBA player probably was the best event. Allen Houston was stroking it like it was '98, and Kenny Smith was hitting half court shots like it was his job. The point guard event was ok, but still didn't possess the flair we've seen in the past. Finally we got to the primetime events: the 3 point contest and the slam dunk contest. But this three point contest was brutally boring. James Jones' 22 makes was the highest in the contest, and even though Kevin Durant and Kevin Love had to go to overtime to determine the winner, it lacked real drama. Love took home the crown even after he had to petition the NBA to get into the contest. We needed to see at least one guy go for 24 or 25 threes in order to really get the crowd fired up, but that never happened.
Finally came the dunk contest which was going to save the weekend. Though it was a group of relative no names, it was going to be the high flying action everyone was waiting for. But it wasn't. Instead we watched these guys turn the dunk contest into a prop usage contest. For the first time in the history of the dunk contest it wasn't about the dunks, it was about who you dunked over and how clever your "scene" was. I felt as if I was watching a bad SNL skit, you know like every single skit since 1997? There was no hype, the crowd was dead and the lights were just too damn bright. Hey, Chase Budinger how about you show that white men CAN jump by throwing down some ridiculous windmill dunk, but instead he just chose to dunk over the 5'9" P. Diddy. Derrick Williams dunked over some ugly purple motorcycle, Jeremy Evans dunked over Kevin Hart who's 5'2" and Paul George thought'd it be cool to dunk a glow in the dark basketball. What in the world happened to the dunk contests of the past? I'm pretty sure the crowd was just into it when Jason Richardson and Vince Carter were trying to destroy the rim; they didn't need any props to get the crowd going. If the NBA really badly wants to use props or people in the dunk contest, I think one and only one of the three dunks should be used on props. Please get back to the days when people were creatively dunking, not creatively dunking over people.
Finally we got to the all-star game, which became the saving grace of the weekend. The West stormed out to a 21 point lead at halftime only to watch the East come back thanks to nine straight Lebron James buckets. But the fourth quarter once again got the best of LBJ who turned the ball over in the final possession after passing up a shot. This all-star contest smashed a bunch of records, including the highest combined score in the first half(the West had 85 POINTS). Kobe took over MJ as the highest scoring all-star of all-time, league favorite Kevin Durant won the MVP and Lebron James once again blew it in the fourth quarter. I call that a pretty damn good All-Star Game.
Finally came the dunk contest which was going to save the weekend. Though it was a group of relative no names, it was going to be the high flying action everyone was waiting for. But it wasn't. Instead we watched these guys turn the dunk contest into a prop usage contest. For the first time in the history of the dunk contest it wasn't about the dunks, it was about who you dunked over and how clever your "scene" was. I felt as if I was watching a bad SNL skit, you know like every single skit since 1997? There was no hype, the crowd was dead and the lights were just too damn bright. Hey, Chase Budinger how about you show that white men CAN jump by throwing down some ridiculous windmill dunk, but instead he just chose to dunk over the 5'9" P. Diddy. Derrick Williams dunked over some ugly purple motorcycle, Jeremy Evans dunked over Kevin Hart who's 5'2" and Paul George thought'd it be cool to dunk a glow in the dark basketball. What in the world happened to the dunk contests of the past? I'm pretty sure the crowd was just into it when Jason Richardson and Vince Carter were trying to destroy the rim; they didn't need any props to get the crowd going. If the NBA really badly wants to use props or people in the dunk contest, I think one and only one of the three dunks should be used on props. Please get back to the days when people were creatively dunking, not creatively dunking over people.
Finally we got to the all-star game, which became the saving grace of the weekend. The West stormed out to a 21 point lead at halftime only to watch the East come back thanks to nine straight Lebron James buckets. But the fourth quarter once again got the best of LBJ who turned the ball over in the final possession after passing up a shot. This all-star contest smashed a bunch of records, including the highest combined score in the first half(the West had 85 POINTS). Kobe took over MJ as the highest scoring all-star of all-time, league favorite Kevin Durant won the MVP and Lebron James once again blew it in the fourth quarter. I call that a pretty damn good All-Star Game.
The NBA needs to simply stop forcing entertainment into this weekend. For years now it has been an exciting weekend showcasing talent instead of turning talent into a show. For one, stop with the props in the dunk contest, and for two stop wit the fan voting, period. The NBA is on a serious rebound from its dark years in the mid-2000s, but let's not let it lose its manhood. Just let the boys play ball.
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